BY THE end of his Liverpool career, Steven Gerrard could tell within a couple of training sessions whether a new arrival would quicken the pulse or become just another expensive misfit.

Adam Lallana’s intuition may not carry the same weight as yet, but a willingness to pass judgment on everything Sadio Mane will offer over the coming months bore the hallmarks of one of his former team-mate’s instinctive appraisals.

Fortunately for Liverpool, the prevailing view from within the dressing room is that their new £30million signing is more akin to Luis Suarez than El-Hadji Diouf.

“I knew straight away what he was about,” said Lallana. “I knew what he was going to bring to the team, regardless of what everyone has seen in pre-season. You saw all those different parts against Barcelona, but I saw them all in his first couple of sessions.

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Adam Lallana and Sadio Mane both shone for Liverpool against Barcelona at Wembley

“He is different to what we have. He is unpredictable. He can go down the outside, he can come inside, he has a goal in his locker like he produced against Barcelona.

“He’s a very good addition to the squad, believe me. We have loads of different players who can play loads of different positions.

“The manager has decisions to make but it’s great for the squad to have that competition for places.”

Fine tuning his starting XI for next Sunday’s showdown with Arsenal is suddenly not Klopp’s biggest headache, but keeping expectations in check after Lionel Messi and Suarez were swatted aside by rampant opponents.

Barcelona were clearly not on their A-game, but what was impressive about Liverpool was the aggression they displayed in forcing mistakes and the speed in transition which resulted in all four of their goals. Put simply: they were horrible to play against.

Liverpool player ratings against Barcelona

Sun, August 7, 2016

Express Sport takes a look at which Liverpool players sone as the Reds thrashed Barcelona 4-0 in the International Champions Cup at Wembley

Express Sport takes a look at which Liverpool players caught the eye as the Reds thrashed Barcelona 4-0 in the International Champions Cup at Wembley

Lallana profited from Arda Turan’s carelessness in the build-up to Mane’s first for the club and Mane then forced Jeremy Mathieu into an error before Javier Mascherano inadvertently put through his own net under pressure from Jordan Henderson.

Divock Origi executed a composed finish after Kevin Stewart dispossessed Sergio Busquets and sent his team-mate scampering clear and, in the final minute, Henderson pounced out of the shadows to dispossess Andres Iniesta in the final minute with Lazar Markovic teeing up Marko Grujic for a brilliant header.